Saturday, December 24, 2011

Earthrise: A Christmas Postcard from Apollo 8

It's not Christmas Day yet, but this fantastic image is fit be shared on any season or occasion, although it has more weight on this day. The picture, called Earthrise, is by itself breathtaking enough to be featured on this blog, but it's doubly special because of the occasion on which it was taken by the crew of Apollo 8.

As the spacecraft made its turn, the astronauts were greeted by the bright, blue Earth against the grey horizon of the Moon and the black emptiness of Space, prompting mission commander Frank Borman to exclaim, "Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty." While Command Module Pilot James Lovell steered the spacecraft, Borman and Anders took several black-and-white and color photos of the scene unfolding before their eyes, but it was Anders' color shot that became the definitive Earthrise. Later on, the crew would give their Christmas Eve broadcast, watched or heard by a billion humans back on their home planet.

The original image shows the Earth peeking out to the left of the Moon's horizon on the right (as can be seen below). This was the view that greeted the Apollo 8 astronauts on that fateful day. The more popular picture, however, shows the Earthrise in the landscape position (as can be seen in the header photo above).

Man, I absolutely love astronomy shots. The humbling perspective is so awesome. The Pale Blue Dot, and Carl Sagan's piece on it, is a great example of how moving it can be. Wish I could shoot a view like that one day (from the moon, I mean, not from where the Pale Blue Dot was taken)!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you too. I think that's cool they weren't expecting to have that scene. Definitely better than being disappointed, but I don't see how that could happen when you're up in space. Thanks for sharing these pics